Heartland Labor Forum

If we could grade them, this year’s Missouri and Kansas legislatures both flunked. Missouri gets an F minus with less than 30 non-appropriation bills passed, but Kansas bombed out on […] The post The Legislative Sausage Grinder: What happened This Year in Jeff City and Topeka? appeared first on KKFI.

Ken Grossinger, author of Art Works: How Organizers and Artists Are Creating a Better World Together believes activism needs art to imbue social struggles with purpose and solidarity.  We’ll hear […] The post Art Works: How Art Enlivens Social Struggles appeared first on KKFI.

The Labor Notes Conference last month was chock full of almost 8,000 union troublemakers. A highlight was UAW President Shawn Fain and dozens of members who are rebuilding a more […] The post Reassessing the Legacy of Walter Reuther appeared first on KKFI.

Ron Carey was the first Teamster President elected directly by the members. A new book gives us the inside scoop on the enormous challenges this union reformer faced. Author Ken […] The post Ron Carey: From UPS Driver to Teamster President and What Constitutional Rights Do Corporations Have? appeared first on KKFI.

Across the country proponents of school vouchers promise choice, freedom and upward mobility. Nicole Abshire of Mothers for Democracy Institute says vouchers are a scam on students, teachers, unions and […] The post The Voucher Scam and the Construction Contractor Tax Dodge appeared first on KKFI.

Heartland Labor Forum listeners know that U.S. labor law sucks. Are there places in the world where workers have real rights and employers can’t violate the law with impunity? This […] The post Comparing Our Labor Law with Europe and Canada and Gerald Epstein: Busting the Bankers’ Club: Finance for the Rest of Us appeared first on KKFI.

Libertarians and fans of Ayn Rand would like to dismantle our labor laws and any regulations that interfere with the rights of corporations. This week on the Heartland Labor Forum […] The post ZEDE Prospera: A Libertarian Fantasy with Nightmare Results and Bob Bruno’s What Work Is: How Worker See Work appeared first on KKFI.

Third parties are busting out all over this Spring and on this week’s Heartland Labor Forum.  Do 3rd parties “spoil” our elections or strengthen democracy? Labor leader and Socialist candidate […] The post Third Parties: Are They Spoilers or Do They Strengthen Democracy? appeared first on KKFI.

A year ago, a Norfolk Southern train derailed and blanketed East Palestine Ohio with vinyl chloride? We’ll talk to a union rep about the lives impacted, the cleanup and threats […] The post East Palestine: Still Derailed One Year Later and Blood in the Machine: Workers vs. Automation appeared first on KKFI.

The debate is raging between labor and activist groups on whether or not to support the 40-year ½ cent sales tax for the Royals to build a new stadium in […] The post The 3/8th cent sales tax pro and con appeared first on KKFI.

Two years ago, Missouri lawmakers passed a law to criminalize librarians for giving students books that the legislators think are obscene. As a result, public school libraries have purged science […] The post Librarians vs. the Book Ban and Kansas City Labor’s 40 Political Club appeared first on KKFI.

It’s women’s history month and time for some feminist labor history on the Heartland Labor Forum. We’ll ask Mary Ellen Miller how stewardesses at TWA became flight attendants and split […] The post The Flight Attendant Rebellion: A History of the Independent Federation of Flight Attendants at TWA appeared first on KKFI.

Longtime labor activist and writer Les Leopold has a new book: Wall Street’s War on Workers, which delves into how mass layoffs and stock buybacks enrich shareholders at the expense […] The post Les Leopold: Wall Streets War on Workers and What’s the Kansas Legislature Cookin’ Up for Us? appeared first on KKFI.

What’s the Missouri legislature cookin’ up this session?  Bills are being proposed that would assault people’s rights and attack public education.  This week on the Heartland Labor Forum, we’ll ask […] The post What Are they Cookin’ up This year in Jeff City? and Marijuana Dispensary Workers Organize appeared first on KKFI.

Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernandez goes on trial this month in New York for drug trafficking. Honduran workers faced repression, corruption and forced migration during his reign. We’ll ask whether […] The post A Dictator Goes on Trial and Hamilton Nolan: The Hammer: Power, Inequality, and the Struggle for the Soul of Labor appeared first on KKFI.

We all remember Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. for his legacy in the civil rights movement. Maybe you know he was shot while supporting a strike of garbage collectors in […] The post Organized Labor and the Civil Rights Movement appeared first on KKFI.

We’ll find out what it’s like to work and support your family as refugees in your own land. We’ll talk to two Palestinians about jobs, wages, and the war. Then […] The post Work Under Occupation and Unions Come Out for Ceasefire in Gaza appeared first on KKFI.

We’ll have a tribute to music, labor and musicians. The Kansas City Latin Jazz Orchestra is a tuition free cultural immersion education and performance non-profit orchestra. We talk with bandleader Pablo […] The post The Work of a Jazz Musician and Some Great Labor Songs appeared first on KKFI.

Is Trump a Fascist? More and more experts are saying “yes he is.” So, what’s a fascist? And how, if Trump wins in November, could working people be hurt by […] The post Is Trump a Fascist? and Kevin Hendrickson of Pipefitters Local 533 appeared first on KKFI.

We’ll talk to journalist Lawrence Tabak, author of Foxconned, on how the Taiwanese company conned former Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and how corporations transfer taxpayer money to themselves benefitting consultants, […] The post Foxconned by Lawrence Tabak and The Chevron Deference Case: A Corporate Power Grab? appeared first on KKFI.